my wife planted a small annual flower garden of bee friendly flowers including hyssop. there must be much better stuff elsewhere because theres no honey bees on these flowers even though they are in full bloom. theres plenty of bumblebees and butterflies on them though.

Good, all, it will be interesting to hear more about hyssops. I will have to get out today and take some pictures to show comparison to the pictures that I put in the beginning of this thread, I will try to get the pictures from the same angle. The mother hyssop plants are massive, still in the fullest bloom that you could possibly imagine, the young hyssop cuttings are now pretty massive plants too, they are coming into their full blooming too. The bees cover these plants!!!! And the masses and masses of the Sea Holly are covered in the bees too, it will be still blooming for another couple of weeks.

I have been extremely busy lately with stuff, (whah, whah, I know we are all busy, hee, hee), so I haven't had any time to get out and do some picture taking that I want to do to show what stuff is going here. But today is rather overcast, and that is the perfect time for picture taking, so I will endeavour to get out and get some good stuff pictures, hee, hee.

Randy, there MUST be something more appealing to the bees, if they are not covering the hyssop. Also, I wonder if the cultivar of hyssop may be one that is not particularly attractive, no clue about that. The cultivar that I propagate here is called "Blue Fortune" and that it certainly is!!!! Randy, any idea what the "name" of your type is? Just curious.

I think this year I am going to gather some seed from my hyssop Blue Fortune and see if the seed bears true to the parent plant next year. I have a funny feeling that it may be a hybrid, which then the seed grown plants would not come true to the parent. But then, if I wasn't such a lazy girl with some stuff, I would do a little research.....oh dear, get off my butt.....I will check it out and see if my hyssop is a hybrid or not, one day. If the plant is not a hybrid, I will have seed galore that I would be willing to spread around the universe for those that would request it, hee, hee. I think that judging by the size of the plants I might have 40 billion seeds, hee, hee. Have a beautiful, most wonderful and awesomely great and fabulous day. Cindi

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

Cindi, I have three anise hyssop plants. 2 of them look good and held up good. The third grew almost 6' this year and the stalks could not hold the weight. When it rained or I would water the stalks would just fall to the ground and cover the other plants. Why would this one grow 3' higher than the rest? Is there a way to keep it smaller without damaging the stalks so it does not bloom? Here is a picture of it.

Here is a picture so you can see the size difference. The one in question is at the back to the far right.

Shawn, no clue why one would grow so tall, other than maybe a different cultivar of the hyssop, were they the same called when you bought them? I know my hyssop grow to be about 6 feet tall (that is the flower bud branches, the plant is only about 4 feet). When the flowers get really mature and are beginning to fade, then the rains will take it down and it falls over, just like yours. I don't fertilize my hyssop, I have read that they do not require very much nutrients, other than what they get in the soil. But that depends also upon areas, climates, etc. They are lovers of dry and heat. When you water your plants, always remember if you can, to water below the foliage, like ground level. That is the proper way to water plants, it prevents the water from weighing down the plant's flowers/foliage. Not always an option I am sure, but try to ground water, and don't overwater hyssop. I know you live in Colorado, I think it is very dry there? You perhaps do require to water. I have never watered any of my hyssops, but then we live in a cooler, moist climate. Except for this summer, it didn't rain for two months, but they still survived beautifully. They are so beautiful, aren't they? Good luck, sorry about taking so long to reply to your post, just been busy. Have a most wonderful day, enjoying our lives we love, great health. Cindi

Logged

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

thanks to your beautiful pictures (motivated me), I went to the local nursery and picked up a Blue Fortune (actually 2). They had 10 in stock! So now I have to figure out where to plant the first two. I'm still planning on adding more hives this year so I need to give placement serious thought.

Doug, beauty. You will love the cultivar, Blue Fortune, that is mine. You will one day learn to take cuttings from the mother plants, and you can have hundreds of these, for no cost, smiling. Good, glad you got them, you will love the scent of the leaves and flowers, licorice. Beautiful days, with that wish of love and health. Cindi

Logged

There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

Let me start off by saying I hope you have found some Dane... I just came back from the nursery with 4 Anise hyssop starter plants at the low low price of 2.69 each.. they are nice size about a foot high and 3 stalks to each plant. The licorice smell on the leaves is powerful. I can't wait till its frost free and I will be planting it pretty close to my hives. Has anyone used it for tea or any other food purposes? I have read you can and it smells fantastic.